In Passing

Robert Montgomery Moore Jr., a former USCF member from Philadelphia, died December 11, 2009 of respiratory failure at Delaware County Memorial Hospital. He was 85. Mr. Moore was born in 1924 in Philadelphia and lived briefly in Magnolia, Pennsylvania before returning to the city. He graduated from Overbook High School in 1943. When he entered Pennsylvania State College in the fall of that year, he was denied a dormitory room because he was black. A sympathetic professor gave him a place to live. He earned a certificate for completing lower-division courses at the college in 1945 and graduated from Temple University's College of Engineering in 1951. During the 1950s, he was a medical photographer for Hahnemann Hospital. And for 25 years - ending in 1983, when he retired because of a stroke - Mr. Moore was a graphic arts supervisor for General Electric at several Philadelphia-area campuses.

He was an avid chess player, whose last published rating was 1466. He also enjoyed playing bridge and taking family trips to Atlantic City.

Mr. Moore is survived by his wife of 58 years, Jean E. (Campbell) Moore; a son, Robert M. Moore III; a daughter, Doreen Moore Closson; three grandsons and a sister. His funeral was held December 19, with burial in Mount Zion Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.